Freitag, 22. August 2014

Book review: Uncovered by Emily Snow



This book is so totally different from everything else Emily Snow has written so far. Different in the very best way!

My name is Lizzie Connelly, and I have it all. The gorgeous apartment. The new job most women would rip out their own souls for—working for Margaret Emerson at Emerson & Taylor. I have one of those lives you’ve always dreamt about, the kind you only see on HBO. But, the thing is, that life is a lie. A façade.

It all started with one call. “Everything you know about your story—your father’s story—is a lie. It’s up to you to uncover everything.” One call, and I turned my world upside down to dig my way into Margaret’s life—the woman who I’d never laid eyes on until recently. My stepmother who took everything after my father died fourteen years ago.

The plan was simple—figure out what role she played in my father’s death and expose her to the world.

But here’s another thing: simplicity doesn’t exist, and my plans are flawed from the beginning because I never anticipated Oliver. Sexy, too smart for his own goddamn good, and infuriating, he’s the one person who could blow my plans to uncover Margaret. She’s his mother, and in another life, that would have made him my stepbrother.

I want to pretend that none of that matters, that I can simply finish what I came to do without sparing him a second glance and another thought.

Like I said, though, there’s no such thing as simplicity.

My real name is Gemma Emerson.

And this is my story.

When Gemma Emerson arrives in L.A. she has only three things to do: Uncover. Expose. And get the hell out of there.
She puts on a façade and starts to live her life as Lizzie Connelly who digs through the circumstances of her father’s death to uncover the truth of what really happened. It should all be easy if there wasn’t Oliver Manning. He wasn’t part of the plan, getting involved clearly wasn’t part of the plan and falling for him is no option. 

“When we think of the past it’s the beautiful things we pick out. We want to believe it was all like that.”

When Gemma thinks of the past she sees herself as a teenager without parents, struggling to make it. Her father left everything to her stepmother and she was left with nothing. Or was she? After a mysterious phone call Gemma decides to go digging into the life her father and stepmother shared and expose the truth.


Emily Snow did it again and presents a book that isn’t purely romance. Gemma and Oliver are drawn to each other but there’s more than a stepmonster standing in the way. Gemma is hiding the truth about her real life, her real identity and mostly her real reasons why she started working at Emerson & Taylor. 

Maybe it’s her writing style, maybe it’s the words she chose, maybe it’s the story, or maybe it’s just the whole package. This book is so different from other novels. There are so many twists you lose count and so many reasons there possibly won’t be a happy ending that I anxiously turned each page, waiting for the moment when everything blows up right into Gemma’s face. And of course that happens. Because doesn’t it always? But how it happened wasn’t one of the options that were running through my head the whole time. 

Living so many lies that you’re not even sure anymore what’s true or not is how Gemma spends most of the time in Oliver’s presence. She tells herself not to fall for him, her best friend reminds her not to fall for him, but Oliver gives her every reason to do just that.

Can she be honest and tell him the whole truth about what his mother has been up to since her father died? Will he turn his back on her once he finds out? Or will she go back to her old life after getting the answers she needed?

This book is fabulous. I couldn’t put it down and loved every minute I spent with these characters.

Samstag, 16. August 2014

The truly selfish person




Again? You might think. Yes, again.

Suicide is selfish, that’s what everyone says these days. And I’m gonna jump on the train of those who say it’s not. 


They took the selfish way out, they say. They only thought about themselves, they say. There are a million different ways to handle depression. That’s what they say. But what do they know?

If you think suicide is selfish you’ve never been in a really dark place. You’ve never felt hopeless, helpless, alone, lonely. Those who don’t know the black, deep, seemingly never-ending hole that is depression think that it’s selfish to take your own life.

But they always say that the person who committed threw the people around them into a dark hole in return, all those who stay behind. They should’ve said something, should’ve sought help, fight.

What if they did fight? What if they did everything they could but it wasn’t enough? It can be like quicksand, pulling you further down when you fight as hard as you can. But maybe suicide isn’t as selfish as you think it is. Maybe it’s anything but.



“Until you've lost your soul to a sea of emptiness and darkness...you don't get to make judgments.”



You haven’t walked a day in their shoes, you haven’t felt the pain they endured, you haven’t been there on their darkest days and nights, you haven’t seen them laughing on the outside and knowing they’re crying on the inside, you haven’t been bullied like they have been. You haven’t felt that all at once, so you don’t get to judge someone by their inability to hold on any longer.

Suicide isn’t as selfish as everyone makes it. Don’t judge those who committed if you don’t know what they really went through. Maybe it’s not the right way out, but maybe sometimes it’s the only way left for those who are truly hopeless, helpless, alone, lonely. 

Selfish are those who think they have a right to judge the ones who weren't as strong, or those who were strong enough for so long and couldn't hold on any longer. Those are the selfish people, who think they have a right to think that that certain person had a job to hold on for them. 

Dienstag, 15. Juli 2014

The thing about being a writer...




…is that we think too much. We overthink, we think things through, we try to see things from every possible angle. We like to know what other people think, we watch people, we even eavesdrop on stranger’s conversations. We ask ourselves a million questions when we meet someone, but we still mostly want to know what that person thinks right then. At least, I do. Do you? I guess so. 

We try to control situations by giving characters in our stories some meaning; a point in their being.
But that’s fictional, it all is. It’s not real. Real life is a challenge. Feelings aren’t as shiny as they are described in your favorite love stories. Meeting your significant other isn’t always like fireworks. Love isn’t easy. The made-up conflicts from your story suddenly become your conflict. And that’s the mean thing. That’s what sucks. 

Conflicts. You have them every day in real life. You have to deal with them. And you put them on characters and let them deal with them to get the story going. You solve the whole thing within the story and at the end there’s most likely a happy ending. 

But what do you do when it’s not a story anymore? When fiction becomes reality? When you can’t control the outcome anymore because it’s not a story you write. You don’t know what every individual thinks, you don’t control the situation. You have to wait on their actions. 

So for me being a writer is to deal with problems, dumping problems on characters, and not knowing how to deal with them when they’re dumped on me. I love to write and I love to read, but I hate real life problems that are pretty easy to solve if there weren’t the other people who might think God knows what. It would be nice if it’d be as easy as solving a character’s problem in a book.

Samstag, 5. Juli 2014

GIVEAWAY TIME!

Like I promised a few days ago there will be a big giveaway and here it is. Jennifer L. Armentrout kindly provided the copies.
Please share the link with your friends on twitter, facebook and other pages.
Participants MUST have a mailing address in Germany, Austria or Switzerland! 
You can find the rafflecopter giveaway when you scroll all the way down.

There is one more copy to give away. ****ONE hardcover copy of "Ti Aspettavo" ****
If you are from Italy or Switzerland leave a comment telling me that you want the book and your email address (in English or German please) and one winner will be picked randomly. 

ALL BOOKS ARE SIGNED!





********************



Wie vor ein paar Tagen versprochen gibt es Bücher zu gewinnen und Swag Packs.

Teilt den Link mit euren Freunden auf Twitter, Facebook oder anderen Seiten.
Die Gewinner MÜSSEN eine Adresse in Deutschland, Österreich oder der Schweiz haben!
Es ist ein rafflecopter giveaway und wenn ihr ganz runterscrollt, dann könnt ihr mmitmachen.

Es gibt noch ein weiteres Buch.
**** ONE hardcover copy of "Ti Aspettavo" ****
Wenn du aus Italien oder der Schweiz bist, dann hinterlasse einen Kommentar und sag, dass du das Buch willst mit deiner email Adresse zusammen (in English oder Deutsch) und ein Gewinner wird durch Zufall gezogen. 

ALLE BÜCHER SIND SIGNIERT!














May the odds be ever in your favor! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sonntag, 29. Juni 2014

Giveaway Announcement!

Hi everyone,

so I don't normally do this BUT a massive giveaway is about to happen. Jennifer L. Armentrout kindly provided copies of her books for me to give away along with booksmarks and other swag. 
The giveaway will be posted sometime next week and I will post the link on my twitter. So don't miss out.

I've got:
TWO paperback copies of "Dämonentochter - Verbotener Kuss"
TWO paperback copies of "Dämonentochter - Verlockende Angst"
ONE hardcover copy of "Obsidian Schattendunkel"
ONE hardcover copy of "Ti Aspettavo" 

All copies are signed by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

As you can already see they're German copies of her books except for the last one. So Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy ONLY! Feel free to spread the word to get as many people to participate as possible.


Stay tuned,
E

Samstag, 12. April 2014

Book review: Late Call by Emma Hart

She’s a high class call girl. He’s taking over his father’s business.

Seven years ago, they fell in love in Paris.

They walked away at the end of the summer, never imagining they’d meet again.

Now he’s her client.



We fell in love the way you jump from a cliff. Hard and fast with a reckless sense of abandon. The six weeks we spent together changed my life, but at seventeen, I was naive. I was a dreamer. A believer.

Now I’m twenty-four and cynical. I don’t believe in love. There’s no place for such emotions as a high class escort. The only things I’m allowed to feel are physical – and that’s why it’s so damn hard when the client of a last minute job turns out to be the man I left in France seven years ago. When he buys me for six weeks at triple my rate, my agent makes it clear I have no choice but to take the job despite our previous relationship. And my heart makes it very clear I have to stay firmly on top of the cliff this time.

Because for six weeks, I once again belong to Aaron Stone.



*I was lucky enough to receive an ARC of this wonderful book in exchange for an honest review.*
Late Call is the first book in the Call series.


Seeing their first and only love again unexpectedly after seven years was a surprise for both of them. So much has changed. Aaron Stone is about to take over his father's company, Dayton Black is a high class call girl. She hasn't experienced love or real pleasure for so long she can barely remember how it feels like.
When Dayton sees Aaron again he is not her lover like he was seven years ago, he's her client. She tries her best to see it that way, even after he hires her to travel with him around the world as his girlfriend for six weeks. Aaron uses every chance to remind her of the weeks they spent together in Paris seven years ago. He wants her to want him, waiting for his chance to give her everything she needs, showing her how it feels to feel loved.

Believe in what?” “Love. Always believe in love.”

I couldn't put this book down and it's been some time since I read a book this fast. Emma Hart's writing style is simply wonderful. Dayton is a cynical woman and kinda frustrated when it comes to her life. Aaron only adds to that frustration and she insults him more often than she is nice to him.

So bad that if you don't kiss me right this fucking second I might hit you!” - Dayton

Emma Hart describes her characters in a great way. Aaron is a rich man who works hard to take over his father's company. Dayton works as a call girl, first to support herself during her college time, and then she just made it her life. Aaron is the lovely man every woman would swoon over, but Dayton tries everything to be professional and see him as a client. He pays for her time and she is sure she wouldn't stay if he wouldn't pay for it. Or would she?

I can't believe he's fucking with my twenty-four-year-old mind as easily as he stole my seventeen-year-old heart.” - Dayton

It's not your typical romance book, it's erotic and hot, but what did you expect from a call girl and a rich guy who pays his ex-girlfriend to be his pretend girlfriend. I enjoyed this book so much. It was fun and Dayton is a strong character who knows what she wants until Aaron tries to make her want more. Everything.
There's a major cliffhanger, but I expected that after chapter twenty-three. Damn, I never expected that. Everything else but not that. Trust me when I tell you that this book will hold your attention.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys reading about women who know what they want, men who try to give them the world, and a big secret that will change it all.

I read a few of Emma Hart's books but this has been by far my favorite.

Mittwoch, 12. März 2014

Book review: 'Black Box' by Cassia Leo

♥️ Three fateful encounters....
♥️ Two heart-breaking tragedies....
♥️ One last chance to get it right.

From New York Times best selling author Cassia Leo, comes an epic love story about rewriting destiny.

Over the course of five years, Mikki and Crush cross paths on three separate occasions. Their first encounter changes Mikki's life forever, but their second meeting leaves them both buried beneath the emotional wreckage of a violent attack. Mikki is left with more questions and grief than she can handle, while Crush is forced to forget the girl who saved his life.

Now nineteen years old, Mikki Gladstone has decided she's tired of the mind-numbing meds. She books a flight to Los Angeles to end her life far away from her loving, though often distant, family.

Twenty-one-year-old Crush has always channeled his blackest thoughts into his music, but he's never had great aspirations. He decides to fly to Los Angeles to record a demo of the only song he's never performed in public; a song he wrote for a girl he doesn't even know: Black Box. He has no expectations of fame and he's never felt like his life had any purpose... until he meets Mikki in Terminal B.

When Mikki and Crush cross paths for the third time in Terminal B, neither has any idea who the other person is; until they slowly piece together their history and realize that fate has more in store for them than just another love story.


This book made me hold my breath so often.

Cassia Leo did it again. A heartbreaking and wonderfully written book. She has a way of describing her character's feelings in a way that makes you feel like you sit right next to them, it makes them kinda real.
I didn't really know what to expect from this book, I just knew that the story would be totally different from what we've seen from Cassia Leo before.

Mikki had to go through tough times in her life and when she finally decides to go to California to end it all, she meets Crush at the airport, again. He seems familiar, but she doesn't know why. Crush feels the same, have they met before? Because of canceled flights they stay in a hotel till they get new flights in the next days, and get to know each other during these days.

I don't believe in fate, but I don't know what else could have out her there at that exact moment.” - Crush

Mikki tries to hide her pain, her thoughts, and all the things that went wrong in her life. Crush knows there is more to the girl in front of him. They slowly discover all the things, remember the times they first met, and even more than that. It's a shock and a relieve at the same time. And then there's Black Box. The mysterious book that has been the life line for Mikki since she got it. The last thing Mikki wants is to fall in love, she has other plans for her life. She knows that love isn't the right thing for her at that point in her life. But slowly she begins to make plans for her future without even realizing it, but Crush notices. He tries his hardest to make her see how beautiful life can be. But Mikki isn't the only one with a dark past.

She loves me and all the blackness inside me.” - Crush

I loved every single page of this book. It's hard to find the right words for a book that made you speechless. All I can say is that I totally loved this book.